Many boat owners wish to provide a cover or canopy for the cockpit of their boats, behind the boat's windshield, especially when the boat is not in use, to protect the cockpit area from the elements. This is typically done by mounting a boat cover to the top trim of the windshield and to portions of the boat defining the cockpit behind the windshield, such as shown in U.S. Pat. No. 5,189,980 (the disclosure of which is hereby incorporated by reference herein), or by providing a canopy which includes a mounting channel in the boat deck adjacent the windshield, with the canopy covering the windshield and the cockpit area, such as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,026,761 (the disclosure of which is hereby incorporated by reference herein).
While conventional boat cover assemblies, such as described above, are very useful, they oftentimes require specialty or additional components in order to provide a complete canopy function, and have little or no versatility as far as accommodating different types of fasteners for different types of boat covers.
According to the present invention a boat cover assembly is provided which utilizes a specially designed bottom trim element of a windshield to effectively mount a boat cover/canopy, and which is versatile, accommodating a wide variety of different types of fastener elements associated with the boat cover/canopy. The invention also relates to the bottom trim assembly associated with the boat, and the bottom trim element per se, as well as the method of providing a boat cover on a boat. The bottom trim element according to the present invention preferably is similar to that disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,815,410 (the disclosure of which is hereby incorporated by reference herein) which is specifically adapted for effectively mounting curved windshields, and one of the fastener systems that the bottom trim element can accommodate may be that disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,839,388 (the disclosure of which is hereby incorporated by reference herein).
The invention also comprises a particular boat cover assembly that is advantageous compared to conventional canvas snaps, or canvas clips, the boat cover according to the invention having a snap-less fastener that avoids the bulge formed by conventional canvas snap fasteners or clips. The boat cover assembly according to this aspect of the invention also may reduce the manufacturing time for the canvas (or other fabric forming a boat cover/canopy) on the production floor by eliminating the time consuming operation of inserting female canvas snaps, and the cover according to the invention can be run over the boat windshield thereby reducing the amount of ultraviolet light that reaches the boat interior. The cover assembly according to this aspect of the invention also provides for improved weather resistance since there is little opportunity for leakage at the top (compared to when the cover is mounted to the windshield top trim), provides a clean appearance when the canvas is removed (since there are no clips), and eliminates the galvanic corrosion that is typically caused by the use of canvas clips, screw-in studs, and rivet studs.
According to one aspect of the present invention there is provided a bottom trim assembly for a boat windshield, comprising: A windshield bottom trim element comprising: an upper portion defining a windshield-receiving channel: a bottom portion having a generally convex outer lower surface, a substantially hollow interior, and a side access opening; and a middle portion comprising a fastener-receiving side opening. A boat windshield operatively disposed in the windshield-receiving channel. And at least one fastener received in the middle portion fastener-receiving side opening.
The generally convex outer lower surface may be connected to a boat by a plurality of fixing elements (such as conventional screws) which are accessible from the substantially hollow interior, the screws passing through predetermined openings formed in the bottom trim element for that purpose. Preferably the bottom trim element comprises a metal extrusion having a substantially continuous wall extending through the top, middle, and bottom portions, opposite the middle portion fastener-receiving opening and opposite the bottom portion side access opening, the wall having a thickened portion at the middle portion to minimize distortion. Also, the middle portion/fastener-receiving opening and the extrusion may be dimensioned and configured so as to receive a conventional canvas clip. The canvas clip may be just one of a plurality of different fasteners that may be received by the fastener-receiving side opening of the bottom trim element.
In the assembly of the invention, the side access opening may be defined by screw cover mounting projections, and a screw cover having projection-receiving recesses receiving the mounting projections may be mounted in the side access opening, the screw cover obscuring the substantially hollow interior (and thereby hiding any nicks in the edges caused during installation of the windshield). Such a screw cover is simpler, less expensive, and typically more effective than the conventional trim piece utilized in the extrusion of U.S. Pat. No. 4,815,410.
According to one aspect of the invention the at least one fastener comprises a plurality of snap fasteners, each having a male snap fastener top, and a shaft extending downwardly therefrom, the shaft received by the middle portion fastener-receiving opening and the male snap fastener top extending outwardly from the middle portion fastener-receiving opening. Also according to this aspect the fastener-receiving opening comprising first and second mounting projections at an access to the fastener-receiving opening, and each fastener shaft has depressions corresponding to and cooperating with the projections to mount the shaft in the fastener-receiving opening. Also in this embodiment a piece of fabric having a plurality of female snap fasteners cooperates with the male snap fasteners received by the middle portion fastener-receiving opening, and the fabric may cover the windshield as well as the cockpit, to provide a boat cover/canopy.
According to another aspect of the invention the middle portion fastener-receiving opening has first and second mounting projections having undercut recesses at an access to the fastener-receiving opening; and the assembly further comprises at least one fastener received in the fastener-receiving opening, the fastener comprising an elongated body having a substantially flat first face, and a second face having a stem and first and second flexible projections extending outwardly from the stem, the flexible projections releasably received by the undercut recesses; and the elongated body is operatively attached to a piece of fabric. Preferably the elongated body is substantially permanently attached by stitching (and perhaps also by adhesive or other fastening components) to the fabric, and the fabric extends substantially over, and covering, the windshield. Preferably the fabric also comprises a boat top, covering the cockpit adjacent the windshield.
The fabric may comprise any suitable fabric, but for most situations will be a type of canvas. While a number of different fastener systems have been described above, it is to be understood that preferably the middle portion fastener-receiving opening is dimensioned and configured to receive at least two different types of fasteners, including a plurality of snap fasteners, as described above, and at least one fastener without conventional metal snaps substantially permanently attached by stitching to fabric.
According to another aspect of the present invention a boat windshield bottom trim element per se is provided. The element typically comprises a metal extrusion, and includes: an upper portion defining a windshield-receiving channel. A bottom portion having a generally convex outer lower surface, a substantially hollow interior, and a side access opening. And a middle portion comprising a fastener-receiving side opening which has first and second mounting projections having undercut recesses at an access to the fastener-receiving opening. The side access opening and the fastener-receiving side opening typically comprise channels, especially where the element comprises a metal extrusion.
In one preferred embodiment, the metal extrusion has a substantially continuous wall extending through the top, middle, and bottom portions, opposite the middle portion fastener-receiving opening and opposite the bottom portion side access opening; the wall having a thickened portion at the middle portion to minimize distortion. Also preferably the substantially hollow interior of the bottom portion which corresponds to the convex lower surface has a substantially constant radius. which allows rotation to the desired angle on hole punching tooling (to form screw receiving holes in the extrusion) while not requiring a constant radius of the outside surface; that is the convex lower surface need not have a substantially constant radius, although it may. Also, in this embodiment preferably the side access opening is defined by screw cover mounting projections, and the element further comprises a screw cover having projection-receiving recesses receiving the mounting projections, the screw cover obscuring the substantially hollow interior.
According to another aspect of the present invention a boat cover assembly per se is provided comprising: A bottom trim mounting a boat windshield and including a fastener receiving opening which has first and second mounting projections having undercut recesses at an access to the fastener-receiving opening. At least one fastener received in the fastener-receiving opening, the fastener comprising an elongated body having a substantially flat first face, and a second face having a stem and first and second flexible projections extending outwardly from the stem, the flexible projections releasably received by the undercut recesses. And a piece of fabric operatively attached to the elongated body and extending therefrom to serve as a boat cover. The elongated body may be substantially permanently attached, by stitching (and perhaps other components), to the fabric, and the fabric may extend substantially over, and covering, the windshield. The fabric may also comprise a boat cover, extending over the cockpit area behind the windshield.
According to another aspect of the present invention there is provided a method of providing boat covers on boats comprising: a) Producing a uniform configuration metal extrusion having a fastener-receiving opening capable of receiving at least first and second different types of fasteners. b) Forming the extrusion into at least first and second boat windshield bottom trim elements, and attaching a boat windshield to each of the boat windshield bottom trim elements. c) Attaching the first boat windshield bottom trim element with windshield to a first boat, and attaching a first type of fastener to the first boat trim element, and attaching a fabric to the first type of fastener to serve as a first boat cover. And d) attaching the second boat windshield bottom trim element with windshield to a second boat, and attaching a second type of fastener (different than the first type) to the second boat trim element, and attaching a fabric to the second type of fastener to serve as a second boat cover.
In the method as described above, at least one of (and preferably both of) (c) and (d) are practiced to provide the boat cover over the windshield, and preferably at least one of, and preferably both of, (c) and (d) are practiced so as to provide a boat cover over the cockpit area behind the windshield, providing a boat top or canopy.
It is the primary object of the present invention to provide a simple yet versatile and effective assembly and method for attaching a boat cover in association with a boat windshield, to provide a boat cover or canopy, as well as to provide advantageous components of the assembly. This and other objects of the invention will become clear from an inspection of the detailed description of the invention and from the appended claims.